Pranayamateacher training

fourth session notes

Mantras for countingMantras repeated mentally can be used for counting the breath during pranayama. Bija mantras like Om or Hrim can be repeated a certain number of times along with the breathing process, like 8 repetitions on inhalation, 4 on retention or 8 on exhalation, or multiples thereof. Longer mantras can be used in the same way. For example, the Gayatri mantra of 24 syllables can be repeated with the first 8 syllables on inhalation, the second 8 syllables on retention and the third 8 upon exhalation.The Gheranda-Samhita distinguishes between two basic types of purification practices: samanu and nirmanu, which denote mental and physical respectively. The samanu type of purificatory prac-tice consists in breath control with seed, sabija, that is, with silent mantra recitation. As the Gheranda-Samhita (5.38 - 44) explains: “Seated on a seat, the yogin should assume the lotus posture. Next he should commence with the purification of the channels for pu-rification through breath control. Contemplating the bija of the air element, which is energetic and of the color of smoke, the sage should inhale the air through the lunar, repeating the seed syllable sixteen times. Then he should retain it for sixty-four repetitions and exhale the air through the solar channel over thirty-two rep-etitions. Raising the fire from the root of the navel, he should con-template the glow associated with the earth element. Then, while repeating the seed syllable of the fire element sixteen times, he should inhale through the solar channel.Next, he should retain the air for sixty-four repetitions and then exhale it through the lunar channel over thirty-two repetitions. Contemplating the luminous reflection of the moon at the tip of the nose, he should inhale the air through the ida for sixteen repetitions of the seed syllable tham. Then, while contemplating the nectar oozing [from the moon at the tip of the nose], he should retain the air for sixty-four repeti-tions of the seed syllable vam and thereby cleanse the channels. Finally, he should firmly exhale for thirty-two repetitions of the la sound.” The seed syllables are the root sounds of the elements.

The sounds of the petals of the chakrasSanskrit is called the universal language or the language of the Gods, it reflects the primal sounds through which the entireuniverse is created, by which it is sustained, and into which it is eventually dissolved. These primal sounds of the universe are em-bodied in the Sanskrit letters which are the root forms of Shakti and bring her energy into our minds, hearts and bodies. The Kundalini Shakti is the inner power of mantra, whereas the chakras are the energy fields created by its unfoldment. Mantra is the best means of arousing the Kundalini and energising the chakras. The petals of the chakras represent an unfoldment of

primal sound through the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. The six lower chakras contain a total of fifty petals, each of which relates to one of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. This is the garland of letters that shows the vibratory frequencies of the chakras. The letters can be recited as mantras along with the anus-vara ṁ as chakra mantras.The thousand petal lotus or crown chakra indicates all possible sound combinations of these fifty letters. All six lower chakras and their various petals are contained in and comprehended by the thousand petalled lotus of sahasrara. The thousand petalled lotus, in turn, is contained in and comprehended by the hridaya or spiritual heart. The hridaya or spiritual heart is not the heart chakra, anahata, but the core of our being, the seat of the Atman or Purusha, in which all chakras, all worlds and all beings are com-prehended. The spiritual heart is sometimes visualised as a small cave, or is seen as a flame.

BinduAbove ajna and below sahasrara lies bindu, which is not actually a chakra. Bindu is a point at the back of the head where Brah-mins grow their tuft of hair. This point is represented by a crescent moon with a white drop.The word bindu comes from the Sanskrit root bind, meaning to split or to divide, indicating that it is the point where the oneness first divides itself to produce duality, the world of multiple forms. The word bindu also means zero or emptiness - shoonya. More correctly, bindu is the gateway to the shoonya. It is an infinitesi-mally small point of infinite potential. Bindu implies a point with-out dimension, a dimensionless centre. Bindu is also called the bindu visarga, the falling drop, as it is the source of a fluid called amrita (nectar), that continuously trick-les down. According to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika life can be pro-longed by controlling this flow of nectar. When the vishuddhi is weak the fluid flows down to the manipura chakra, where it is consumed, leading to physical decline. Through the practice of khecari mudra, the drops of amrita can be caught and purified at

Nada YogaNada yoga is often used as a collective term to describe all yogic practices which utilise sound. In the depths of our being there are innumerable sounds at different levels of vibration and subtlety. These sounds are always present but they are rarely perceived be-cause the mind is continually extroverted, totally attracted and ad-dicted to outside objects and events. When the central channel is activated all kinds of subtle sounds can be heard inwardly. Unlike the sounds we can hear with our ears, the cosmic sound is uncaused. It is an infinite vibration (spanda) that is coextensive with the universe itself and is realisable in deep meditation when the senses and the mind have been deactivated. The primordial sound is symbolically represented by the sacred syllable om, also called pranava.Nada is the sound of the chidakasha, the iner space. The aim is to use this inner sound as a vehicle of awareness to transcend normal limitations and dive deep into the mind. When the mind flows to-wards the sound then it becomes very concentrated. Chapter 4 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika discusses nada yoga in great detail.

vishuddhi and stored in the lalana chakra. In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (v. 4:46) it says: “The nectar secreted from the bindu is indeed the consort (Shakti) of Shiva (conscious-ness). It fills the sushumna passage.” In another system there are two bindus, one red and one white, and symbolise the merging of opposites in terms of male and female. The dynamic prana (female) merges with the static consciousness (male). The result of this union is the seed of the bindu from which manifestation begins and the ascent of the kundalini: For there to be a manifest universe there first has to be space. From space is the emergence of the finest of subtle matter called prakriti, the first manifestation of which is air. From air comes fire. Fire thickens and becomes water. Water becomes still and is known as earth. This is the emergence of the world and ourselves as individ-uals. The journey inward through meditation is one of reversing this process in awareness and gradually converging to a point, the point out of which we originally emerged.

laṁvaṁ

śaṁṣaṁ

saṁ

baṁ

bhaṁ

maṁyaṁ

raṁ

laṁ vaṁ

ḍaṁ

dḥaṁ

ṇaṁ

taṁ

thaṁdaṁ

dhaṁ

naṁ

paṁ

phaṁ raṁ

kaṁ

khaṁ

gaṁ

ghaṁ

ṅaṁ

caṁchaṁ

jaṁ

jhaṁ

ñaṁ

ṭaṁ

thaṁ yaṁ

aṁ

ãṁ

iṁ

ĩṁ

uṁ

ũṁ

ṛṁ

ṝṁḷṁ

ḹṁ

eṁ

aiṁ

oṁ

auṁ

aaṁ

ahaṁ haṁ

haṁ kṣaṁ

om

Bhuta shuddhiIn the bhuta shuddhi ritual the elements are visualised as being purified through their progressive absorption into the divine Shakti. The earth element governs the area between the feet and the thighs; the water element has authority over the area between

the thighs and the navel; the fire element rules the zone be-tween the navel and the heart; the air element reigns over the section between the heart and the forehead; the ether element governs the area above the fore-head. The practitioner visualis-es earth dissolving into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether, and then ether into the higher principles (tattva), until everything is dissolved into the Goddess itself.The yogin starts out as an im-pure being (papapurusha) and through the power of visuali-sation recreates themself as a pure being, a worthy vessel for the divine. The mental process of bhuta-shuddhi changes the body’s chemistry leading to the creation of the desired divine body, divya-deha.Here we have again the idea, quintessential to Tantra, that the microcosm mirrors the macrocosm.The earth element is dissolved into its energetic potential of smell (gandha-tanmatra). This

is conducted by the rising kundalini to the second center, where the Goddess power next dissolves the water element into its en-ergetic potential of taste (rasatanmatra). This subtle product is elevated to the level of the center at the navel. Here the kunda-lini transmutes the fire element into its energetic potential of sight (rupa-tanmatra). This is then taken to the level of the heart center, where the kundalini effects the transmutation of the wind element into its energetic potential of touch (sparsha-tanmatra). This sub-tle form of the wind element is next raised to the level of the throat center, where the kundalini refines the ether element into its ener-getic potential of sound (shabda-tanmatra). This product of yogic alchemy is raised to the level of the ajna-cakra, in the middle of the head, and here the lower mind (manas) is dissolved into the higher mind (buddhi), which, in turn, is dissolved into the subtle nature of reality (sukshma-prakriti). The final phase of dissolution occurs when the serpent power reaches the topmost center, where the sukshma-prakriti is dissolved into the para-bindu, which is the supreme point of origin of the individuated body-mind.

The Kashmiri yogini Lalla hints at this process in one of her poems

“Closing the doors and windows of my body, I seized the thief, prana, and shut him in.

I bound him tightly inside the chamber of my heart, And lashed him hard with the whip om.

I pulled the reins of the steed of the mind; I compressed the life force circulating through the ten channels;

Then, indeed, did the lunar particle melt and dissolve, and the Void merged with the Void.

Concentrating on the om-sound, I made my body like blazing coal. Leaving behind the six crossroads,

I travelled the path of Truth.And then I, Lalla, reached the Abode of Light.”